Thursday, October 18, 2007

Wednesday, October 18, 2007—Governor Deval Patrick and Executive Office for Administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan today announced that they have promoted Jay Gonzalez to Undersecretary for Administration and Finance, following former Undersecretary Henry Dormitzer’s appointment as Commissioner of the Department of Revenue (DOR).

“Henry and Jay have done a terrific job during the first year of the Patrick Administration, helping us craft a balanced budget, creating the first ever five-year capital plan, and ensuring that the day-to-day operations of state government are performed in a fiscally responsible manner,” Secretary Kirwan said. “They have brought tremendous expertise from their private sector work, and in a short time have made a tremendous impact in this administration.”

Before his promotion, Gonzalez served as the Assistant Secretary for Capital Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, managing the state’s capital budget, financing the state’s capital investments and overseeing the allocation of the state’s volume cap for private activity bonds.

In his new role, Gonzalez will continue to oversee the state’s capital program, including work on the administration's reform efforts for financing transportation infrastructure. Additionally, he will assist the governor and the secretary with collective bargaining contracts, serve as the secretary’s designee on a number of boards of independent authorities and other state entities, and will serve as the point on general budget and finance issues as the governor readies for the release of his budget in January.

Before joining the administration, Gonzalez was a Partner of the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, where he focused on public finance. He served as counsel to cities, towns, school districts and governmental entities throughout New England in connection with the financing and development of major capital projects and other governmental programs.

Gonzalez holds a B.A in Government from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Dormitzer was named Revenue Commissioner in June, originally in an interim capacity. In his role as Commissioner, Dormitzer directs the agency and its 2,200 employees, which is responsible for enforcing the Commonwealth’s tax, child support and municipal finance laws in a fair and equitable manner.

Since joining DOR, Dormitzer has focused on the agency’s responsibility to enforce the individual mandate of the state’s health care reform law through the tax forms. There is an enhanced focus on leveraging technology to improve the user experience and maximize voluntary compliance with tax laws and filing requirements. He has also focused on promoting the Patrick Administration’s first-ever “Ten Most Wanted” poster of the Commonwealth’s worst child support delinquents. Additionally, Dormitzer plays an instrumental role in the work of the Tax Commission and its efforts to improve the tax code.

Prior to joining the administration, Dormitzer was an investment banker with UBS, serving as Managing Director and Manager of the Boston office. As head of UBS Investment Bank’s public finance office in Boston, he was the leading underwriter of municipal bonds in Massachusetts from 1995 to 2006 and assisted the Commonwealth on major infrastructure and affordable housing activities, including work for the Commonwealth’s transportation authorities and the State Treasury.

A graduate of Harvard College, Dormitzer worked for the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee earlier in his career. He previously served on the Program Committee of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and currently is Treasurer of the Board of Trustees for Worcester Academy.

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Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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